In 2015, Tony Dolan (vocals, bass) was approached to reform the core line-up which recorded Venom’s 1990 ‘Prime Evil’, which resulted in the legendary Mantas and Abaddon renewing their partnership as they had on such seminal albums like ‘Welcome To Hell’ and ‘Black Metal’. The gig went well, and ‘Avé’ followed in 2017. Fast forward to the end of 2022 and there is a new Venom Inc. album, but Abaddon has left and been replaced by Jeramie ‘Warmachine’ Kling. The result is an album which is actually quite enjoyable with plenty of hard-hitting riffs and passion, but to my it is far too lightweight to be associated with such an important band. There is nothing essential on this album, and while it is playing it certainly bangs along but there is little here which makes the listener want to return to it again.

There is a reason why Venom still continues to this day with Cronos, and if he again teamed up with Mantas then that would indeed be a match made in hell, but I am sure Venom Inc will long be a favourite on the festival circuit where they will play both new material plus the older songs which will be what the fans want to hear.

Rating: 6/10

Links:
https://www.venom-inc.co.uk/
https://www.nuclearblast.com/